As part of this partnership, Saint-Gobain has acquired a minority stake in Megasol’s business unit that develops and manufactures building-integrated photovoltaics at its site in Deitingen in Switzerland.
The partnership enables Saint-Gobain to extend its sustainable solutions offer for façades and to become the leading provider for BIPV façade solutions in Europe, one of the fastest growing segments of façade construction. At the same time, it gives Megasol—a European leader in Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)—access to Saint-Gobain’s customer base.
BIPV solutions make a significant contribution to sustainable construction and decarbonization by very efficiently producing energy on roofs and vertical façades of buildings. Building owners can not only comply with today’s and future energy regulations and increase their own energy efficiency, but they can also generate additional revenue by feeding the electricity into the grid.
“Thanks to the aesthetic design of Megasol’s products, its fully customized and, at the same time, industrialized production, we are extending the scope of our applications allowing significant growth for Saint-Gobain’s total façade solutions,” said Patrick Maier, CEO of Saint-Gobain Switzerland.
“With its sustainability strategy and immense expertise in glass and building envelopes, as well as its global presence, Saint-Gobain is the perfect partner to rapidly scale our business with our active solar building materials,” said Markus Gisler, CEO of Megasol.
This partnership will further reinforce Saint-Gobain’s offering in sustainable façade solutions which varies from one country to another. These façade systems provide high performance and a reduced carbon impact thanks to less embodied carbon and lower energy requirements for a building in use.
This investment is in line with the Group’s “Grow & Impact” plan to further strengthen its leadership position in light and sustainable construction.